[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 25, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE LIFE OF DR. LESLIE M. COLLINS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2014

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay 
tribute to the life of Dr. Leslie M. Collins, a lifelong educator, 
writer, and academic. Dr. Collins was a well respected professor who 
was always available to guide his students as they embarked on their 
careers. I was deeply saddened to hear of his passing this week.
  For more than 50 years, Dr. Collins taught English and African-
American literature at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Even 
after his retirement in 1979, he continued to teach several courses 
every year for nearly three decades. His dedication to education speaks 
for itself.
  A graduate of Dillard University, Dr. Collins was awarded an M.A. 
from Fisk University in 1937 and a doctorate from Western Reserve 
University's Department of American Culture in 1945. His studies of the 
relationships between the peoples of the world through literature took 
him across the globe, to the Universities of Havana, Oslo, Florence and 
Madrid, as well as Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean.
  In 1945, Dr. Collins joined the English Department at Fisk 
University, where he taught courses ranging from Composition to Black 
Literature, Milton, and the Harlem Renaissance. For nearly 50 years, he 
reviewed books for the Nashville Tennessean, and in 1990, received an 
honorary doctorate of humane letters from Fisk University. The same 
year, his work One Hundred Years of Fisk Presidents was published, and 
later, his poem the Creole Girl was set to music and performed by the 
Black Music Repertory Ensemble of Chicago.
  Mr. Speaker, we have lost a great academic and a gifted educator. Dr. 
Collins dedicated his life to reviving students' relationships with 
literature, and I feel blessed to have known him as a mentor. This 
week, my thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, the Fisk 
University community, and the countless students whose lives he 
undeniably touched.

                          ____________________